


Ready or not, here I come, you can’t hide

by voices_in_my_head



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Carl & Negan isn't romantic or sexual, Negan is his own warning though he's pretty mellow here, though can't say it's a healthy dynamic either
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-09
Updated: 2020-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:48:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23086516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/voices_in_my_head/pseuds/voices_in_my_head
Summary: "“You should go,” the kid repeats himself and he has barely moved during this whole exchange. Has neither moved his hand towards his gun or knife. Maybe he’s a really good bullshiter who is out of ammo and is really bad with his knife. Negan doubts though. Kid looks smart and if he chose to be outside by himself, least he could do was make sure he could defend himself."AU of S6. Negan doesn't have a group; he and Carl just meet accidentaly.
Relationships: Carl Grimes & Negan
Comments: 6
Kudos: 40





	Ready or not, here I come, you can’t hide

**Author's Note:**

> What it says on the summary and tags. No underage or anything of the sort here, though can't say Negan's thoughts are the nicest - but that's just the way he is, I guess.

Negan saves the kid, killing the zombie or whatever they are being called, not because it’s the right thing to do but because fuck, there isn’t really that much out there to do and he hasn’t had a conversation in fucking forever. Not that a kid will be much of a conversationalist but better that than nothing.

Looking at the kid as he stares back at him with just one eye, Negan starts to question that belief.

“I had that,” the kid tells him and his voice has already broken (and mustn’t that have been fun during the Apocalypse), but it’s not particularly deep. Still, sometimes it really isn’t the tone of voice you gotta look out for but the words themselves.

“Yeah, you did,” Negan replies and smiles and it’s not a patronizing smile, it’s an interested one because Negan is good at reading people. Always had and hopefully always would. And this kid… This kid was going to make for one hell of a study.

“Where’s your family, kid?” He asks, honestly not knowing what to expect. That the kid has made it this far by himself is just as plausible as him having someone around; there’s just no guessing.

“Where’s yours?” The kid asks and Negan just can’t stop smiling for the life of him.

“That’s a rude question to ask nowadays. The answer isn’t usually a happy one.”

The kid blinks, “you asked first.”

Negan spins Lucille, watching the kid watching it. There’s curiosity there but no fear. Thank God; wouldn’t want things to start getting boring.

“Yes, I sure did. ‘Never said I wasn’t a rude motherfucker.”

The kid wrinkles his nose at the swearing. It’s the loveliest thing Negan has seen in fucking forever.

“You should go,” the kid says and Negan can’t tell if it’s a warning or a threat. If it’s about him or for him. It’s beautiful, it’s what it is.

Negan’s smile grows, “what, mommy and daddy told you about stranger danger?”

The kid blinks again and Negan really, really wants to know what’s beneath that bandage. If there’s anything that’s going to get him killed in this world, it’s his curiosity. Negan just has hopes that it’ll at least be satisfied when he kicks the bucket.

“You should go,” the kid repeats himself and he has barely moved during this whole exchange. Has neither moved his hand towards his gun or knife. Maybe he’s a really good bullshiter who is out of ammo and is really bad with his knife. Negan doubts though. Kid looks smart and if he chose to be outside by himself, least he could do was make sure he could defend himself.

Negan doesn’t want to go. This really is the most fun he’s had in ages and if he’s honest to himself, he just doesn’t want to leave the kid so soon. He’s the most interesting person he’s come across in fucking forever and Negan just wants to open his brain up and look inside.

“And if I don’t?” Negan smiles, dropping some of his weight over Lucille, using it to lean forward.

The kid doesn’t answer right away. Instead, he looks him up and down, slowly. Studying. Negan’s smile grows. He really doesn’t want to leave.

“How many walkers have you killed?” Negan raises his eyebrow at the kid. That’s unexpected but fuck if he can’t roll with the punches.

“A shit load. I’ve lost count. How many have you?”

“How many people have you killed?” The kid asks instead and Negan forces himself not to tense up. It’s not that the question bothers him, it was just unexpected. There’s an angle here and Negan doesn’t appreciate being played without at least knowing what game they’re playing.

Negan shrugs, not taking his eyes away from the kid, “I’ve also lost count.”

The kid narrows his eye and finally, a real emotion. “Why?”

Negan leans back, keeping his eyes on the kid. Then he takes a few steps towards him. Kid doesn’t flinch. Negan is almost in love.

“Because they were trying to kill me. Because they were bitten,” Negan leans down, so that they’re mostly at eye level. The kid still has to look up. “Because I felt like it. Does it matter?”

“No,” the kid replies and Negan should lean back. There is no doubt in his mind that he’s a trigger finger happy away from getting his brain blown out right there. But he just keeps staring. “Come on,” the kid says, turning to his right and starting to walk away.

“Where we going?” Negan asks, following him. Because it’s fun, because he’s bored. Mostly because the kid intrigues the fuck out of him.

“Home,” the kid calls back, not looking behind and again, Negan knows that the kid really wouldn’t care if he just turned around and walked away. Might wonder about him for a couple days, but sure as fuck wouldn’t go looking for him.

He follows him.

They walk in silence for a good twenty minutes and Negan has never been good at them but he doesn’t want to throw his game away. The kid knows as much about him as Negan knows about the kid. If he starts talking, he’ll say shit and Negan has a feeling the kid will remember every single detail and know far more about him than it’s good for his health.

They end up outside walls. A community. It’s not the first Negan has seen, not even the first he’s entered.

“Who’s this?” A guy asks, with his hand on his gun and a look that could melt ice. The kid goes to him and the guy puts a hand on his shoulder. Sweet old daddy. So the kid does have a family.

“Name’s Negan,” he extends his hand, making sure he gives him one of his most innocent smiles. The guy doesn’t seem convinced even as he shakes his hand. Not many people ever fell for that, anyway.

“Rick Grimes. This is my son, Carl.”

The kid, Carl, just stares back at Negan, who knows that there isn’t anything in the world he could say at that moment that would make the kid interested in him. That just makes Negan more interested and he’s starting to step on very rocky ground but in a world like this, what other type of ground was there?

“I saved your boy’s life out there,” Negan says and Rick immediately turns to his son, concern written all over him. He’s a badass motherfucker but a father first and foremost. Cute; Negan didn’t know those guys still existed.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, dad,” Carl answers and Negan drinks up his words. Reassuring, loving. Kid’s got feelings, after all.

“Thank you,” Rick says, turning back to him and he does sound grateful, but in no fucking way trustful. Negan is a guy with a baseball bat coated in barb wire; he’d be insulted if Rick trusted him right away, saved kid or not.

“How many walkers have you killed?” Ah, so that’s the game. Negan opens his mouth to answer but Carl beats him to it.

“I’ve already asked the questions,” Rick turns to his son with a raised eyebrow. “He’s good,” Carl replies and then looks at Negan, though whether it’s for confirmation or denial, he has no fucking idea. Negan just smiles at him.

“Right, well, this is Alexandria. As you can imagine, we don’t trust strangers easily. You’re welcome to stay on a trial run; during the day you’ll always be accompanied and you’ll sleep in a locked house.”

Negan comes really fucking close to say “thanks, but no thanks” but as he looks at Carl’s uninterested face, at how much he doesn’t give a fuck one way or another, he nods at Rick. “Sounds good to me.”

“Let me show you around,” Rick offers and that’s exactly what he spends the next hour doing. Showing the houses, introducing the people. Most look distrustful and Negan can tell right away those that have spent a lot of fucking time outside these walls and those who haven’t.

Truth be told, most information barely goes in one ear before leaving through the other. Carl accompanies them and Negan keeps stealing glances at the kid. Little serial killer in the making. As he sees him interact with people, so fucking normal, Negan wonders about his secrets. Is he really this well-adjusted? Or was he out in the woods burying bodies?

Finally, they stop in front of the house Negan will be staying until a final decision about him is made. Not the Ritz, but not that shabby. Bed, toiled, fucking working shower… What more could he possibly want?

“I’ll come by later with food. You’ll be okay, Carl?” Rick asks Carl and Negan has an inkling he’s more sending a message to him than anything else. Warning him that if Carl isn’t for some reason all right when he comes back, there will be hell to pay. Negan isn’t scared but he doesn’t doubt him for a second either.

“You keep staring at me,” Carl says after Rick has been gone for several seconds.

Negan smiles at him, going to sit at a chair by a table. People don’t know how good they have it ‘till the small comforts are gone.

“I’m trying to figure you out.”

Carl blinks, surprised. “Why?”

Negan keeps the smile on his face as he leans forward. Now he’s the one looking slightly up. “Because you interest the shit out of me, kid.”

Carl looks disgusted and Negan can’t help but to bark a laughter at that.

“Not like that, don’t worry, no need to call daddy. I mean, don’t get me wrong, you’re pretty cute, but I’m not interested in kids.”

Carl blinks and then walks towards Negan, until they’re almost nose to nose, “if you were… I wouldn’t need to call my dad.” Then he goes and sits at the opposite chair.

Negan just can’t stop smiling for the life of him. “I ain’t gonna lie, kid. You scare the living shit out of me. The way you stare… We both know you’d kill to save your life, to save your friends’ and family’s life but man, you’d kill just for the joy of it too, wouldn’t you?”

“Have you?” Carl countered, his face giving nothing away.

Negan’s smile turned predatory. “Hell yeah I have. And why not? This is the best fucking time to do it. No government, no laws, no cells. Even if the world somehow goes back to the way it was, there’s no way we’ll be prosecuted for what we did.”

“So you just did it for fun?”

“I did it because I could. For the power,” Negan shrugs, “and to send a message. It’s a kill or be killed world and I don’t know about you, kid, but I’m not planning on dying anytime soon.”

“Living alone isn’t the best way to make sure that doesn’t happen,” Carl points out and it’s a fair enough point.

Now, if Rick was still in the room, Negan doubts he’d be pouring out his life story. As it is, he knows right away that he is about to tell Carl about his life for the last few years and even he isn’t entirely sure why. He wants to see him react. Interested. He just really fucking wants to know what makes Carl Grimes tick.

And if the kid isn’t giving him the answers he wants, maybe he can figure him just a bit better by how he responds to what he says.

“I wasn’t always alone. I had a community too. A bit different, though,” he shows his canines in a smile. “We didn’t ask, we just took. And rules… I’m a stickler for rules. And you know people. They have a hard time following them when they didn’t set them.”

Carl just blinks. Negan continues seriously.

“So whenever we found a group, we’d kill one of them. People don’t respect you if you threaten but don’t comply.”

“People don’t respect you if you kill their family,” Carl retorts but he doesn’t sound disgusted.

Negan laughs, “no, they don’t. But they sure as hell fear you like the hounds of hell are at their chins. And let me tell you, young Carl, people fearing you is much better than them respecting you. Because respect… it’s easy-peasy to lose it. Fear… you kill a few people and it’ll never go away.”

“But you are now. Alone. Or is this how your group operates?” Carl turns his head at an angle, a bit like a dog. “Do you think I won’t kill you?”

“Oh boy, I am many things, but stupid ain’t one. I know you’d have no problem in putting a bullet in my brain. And don’t worry, your people are safe,” Negan shrugs, “I had their fear but they sure as fuck didn’t like me. People saw an opening, they gunned for me. So I gunned them back.”

“But you’re here now. Alone,” Carl repeats himself.

Negan leans back, “I just didn’t give a fuck about doing it all over again. Finding more groups, killing a few more people, hearing them beg and sob and having to deal with their look of hatred every single second of the fucking day. Man, it just got tiring.”

“You left because… you got bored?” Carl asks and he sounds like he doesn’t believe him. No, not quite like that, more like he can’t see why Negan would ever throw that power away. Shit, the kid doesn’t respect him at all but Negan has a feeling that if he said he’d seen the wrong of his ways, that he was out here looking for redemption or some shit like that, he’d respect him even less.

“Something like that,” Negan shrugs. He was done with the conversation and even now, he wasn’t entirely sure why he’d left. It wasn’t for a moral fucking reason. It was just… fuck, the world was full of the dead walking around. Negan didn’t need people gunning for him either and if he just killed everyone around him, then there’d be no entertainment.

Life without a few laughs just wasn’t worth living.

Carl got up, “my dad will bring you dinner later.”

Negan just smiled at him. He hadn’t cracked the kid, hadn’t come even close but he liked nothing as much as a challenge.

“Hey, kid,” Negan called out and Carl turned back to him with a raised eyebrow, looking fucking unimpressed, like Negan had just shat on his pristine floor. “Why didn’t you let your dad ask me the questions? Or told him my answers?”

Carl stared at him, “there is no right answer.”

Negan smiled a real fucking big smile at that. “The others don’t feel that way.”

Carl shrugged and turned back. This time Negan didn’t call him back. Oh, this was going to be fun.


End file.
